Heard all the buzz about NFTs and want to create and sell your own NFTs? Learning about cryptocurrency, crypto wallets and then finding the right NFT Marketplace to sell your NFTs can feel a bit complicated, but its actually not.
You don’t have to know anything about cryptocurrency to get started, except the basics. Being creative certainly helps!
I started out exactly like you as a complete NFT Newbie, so I can certainly share some of the pitfalls to watch out for and things that actually worked to promote my NFT’s.
In this article, we are going to look at how to successfully set up your first NFT Collection for sale.
Top 10 Tips to Sell Your NFTs
#1 – Have a Basic Idea of what you want to create as NFT Collection
From photos, images, music, videos, or audio assets. Then figure out what you need to do to turn it into an appealing NFT Artwork. I found a couple of really cool apps that use AI to help me digitalize my original existing artwork and photography into sellable NFTs.
#2 – Create Your First NFT Samples
Ready to Mint on the Blockchain. I created one collection first and uploaded them and then experimented with my second NFT Collection #vixen3d which probably has wider appeal (its a learning curve).
#3 – Set up a Compatible Crypto Wallet
To connect with your NFT Marketplace of choice. I did a little research and discovered Opensea.io was the most popular NFT Marketplace. You might also like to try Rarible, there are many more. My advice is choose one – I will tell you why down below! If you already have a crypto wallet – great! There are options for connecting different types of crypto wallets. I didn’t have one and chose Trust Wallet because it easily connects with OpenSea using WalletConnect.
WalletConnect is a tool that sits inside your crypto wallet in ‘Settings’ and is an interface that connects your wallet to decentralized web applications, like OpenSea NFT marketplace. You are going to need a crypto wallet before you can set up an account on OpenSea or any other NFT Marketplace to buy, sell or view NFTs.
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Sunflower Dreams Acrylic Print$259.00 -
Peacock Blue Canvas Print$34.00 – $149.00
*Note – With the Trust Wallet you will need another crypto wallet to transfer your ETH (Ethereum) to withdraw funds to your bank account, when you make an NFT sale. If you are in Australia, the CoinSpot crypto wallet is excellent, I signed up for that one. Super easy to use to deposit into your crypto wallet and sell your ETH and withdraw funds in Australian Dollars (AUD) back into your bank account. It only took 5 – 10 minutes to transfer my ETH between wallets, sell it, and convert into AUD, then withdraw and receive those funds in my bank acccount. The CoinSpot support team are quick to answer any questions you have via live chat and email.
Just beware that everytime you move ETH or cryptocurrency out of your crypto wallet (even wallet to wallet) you will pay gas fees on the blockchain, and more fees are withdrawn when the funds hit your bank account.
#4 – Deposit $400AU or equivalent in USD in Ethereum (ETH)
Deposit into your crypto wallet. You are going to need this for the gas fees to mint your first NFT Collection on the Blockchain. You are charged a small gas fee when you first set up your OpenSea.io account and a gas fee when you mint your first NFT on the Blockchain.
The price of the gas fee will depend on the market value of Ethereum at the time. Make sure to set your local currency in ‘Settings’ in your crypto wallet, so you understand the conversion rates of ETH to USD, AUD or other currency.
#5 – Open your OpenSea.io Account and connect your crypto wallet.
Then set up your profile and brand it with images and media from your NFT collection, and connect your social media accounts. OpenSea will sent approval requests to your crypto wallet on your phone to authorise your account, and each time you log on, mint an NFT, or set it to ‘sell’. So have your crypto wallet open and connected when making changes to your account or NFT collections, for faster approvals.
#6 – Create your First Collection and Start Adding your NFTs
Using OpenSea create your first collection and add a logo, featured image, banner image, and name your collection (something short and catchy is good). Make sure to customise your URL, add a description, and choose a category for your NFTs to display in the marketplace. Add your social media links and choose how you want your category items to display on the front end.
Your wallet address where your NFT’s will be minted and sell on the blockchain, will auto-populate. Next set the Royalty fee you will earn everytime your NFT is resold (up to 10% on OpenSea.io). You can add a collaborator (Second Person) to the collection if you want. They will share in the royalties if you do. Then submit your changes and you are now ready to add your NFTs.
Click ‘Create’ to add your first NFT or click the Add button on the collection. To set up your NFT add an Image, Video, Audio, or 3D Model (File types supported are: JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, MP4, WEBM, MP3, WAV, OGG, GLB, GLTF. Max size: 100 MB).
Name your NFT, give it a description, add an external link to your website if you have one that provides more information. Choose the collection you want to add the NFT to and this will mint the NFT into your crypto wallet in that collection. In your Crypto Wallet you will have a tab for Tokens and NFTs, where you can see all your minted NFTs.
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Adding Unlockable Content
Next add any unique properties, and unlockable content for the buyer when they purchase it. For example, you may want to give them access to digital file download for personal use via a download link.
Please Note – Works of Art traded as NFTs are protected by copyright. The creator of the work is the owner of the copyright, and can do what they want with it. This includes the right of communication to the public (for example, making the asset available to the world at large), or the rights of adaptation or reproduction.
This article by World Economic Forum on owning an NFT versus copyright of digital artwork (or creative works) is an excellent one to read if considering creating or investing in NFTs. In summary, when someone buys an NFT the work is not owned, rather the metadata is. The NFT is a digital certificate of ownership representing the purchase of a digital asset, traceable on the blockchain.
For some of my NFTs that are of higher value, I include unlockable content of a canvas print of the NFT Artwork including shipping, for personal use.
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To complete minting your NFT – when you click create, OpenSea (or the NFT Marketplace you are using) will run through approval steps to mint your NFT on the blockchain as it connects to your crypto wallet. Make sure to click OK on the approval notifications as they come through to your crypto wallet.
On the first minting, you will be charged the gas fee, it will display as ETH and the value in your nominated currency. Once you accept, all the NFTs you create after that including new collections will be gas free.
If you switch platforms, you will need to pay another gas fee for any NFTs you create on that platform. And if you promote the same collections on more than one NFT Marketplace platform, you will have to split any future royalties over those platforms. This is where it gets tricky, so it’s best to stick to one platform.
Troubleshooting Editing Your NFTs on OpenSea
Find yourself waiting with the screen stuck on loading or the edit/sell buttons not showing for NFTs or your Collections? There is an easy fix, I discovered its all related to your wallet connection. You can try logging out and reconnecting your wallet connection with WalletConnect (using the barcode scanner) and then click on the wallet icon, far right icon on top tool bar. Underneath your profile name, there is a drop down list > select ‘Refresh Funds‘. Wait until it refreshes your Wallet ETH balance and then try again. It should restore your connection and edit settings.
#7 – Set up a Simple Website to Promote Your NFT’s
With a dedicated NFT Gallery website buyers can click a link on your NFT in your OpenSea listing and get more information about your NFT’s, Collections, and you as the Creator. Plus it gives you more web presence to promote your NFTs in search engine results, run free and paid promotions, and link your website to your social media channels.
I set my website up in a day and half using WordPress. I then added my NFTs as individual Blog Posts (with related links to OpenSea.io) that display on the home page, all keyworded for the search engines. I can keep adding more individual NFT blog posts as my NFT Collections grow.
If you want to create your own WordPress website, I can recommend Namecheap for hosting and installing your site. They are very reliable and affordable. Plus they include a Free SSL Certificate with every website and sub-domain, which automatically installs.
Website Security Tips
With any website you create, just make sure you have a security plugin installed right from the start. My fave is the free All in One WP Security & Firewall plugin. Make sure to never use the default ‘admin’ as your username, change it before you install WordPress as all hackers know this is the default. You can’t change it afterwards. And always check in your WordPress Dashboard that your User profile displays a nickname or preferred name, not your admin login name. You can edit this under ‘Users’.
#8 – Set Your NFTs to SELL
Now you are ready to list your NFTs for sale on OpenSea or your preferred marketplace. Before I do, I update the NFT with is unique Blog post URL as the External Link. Make sure all the NFT details are correct and your Unlockable Content has been added (ie. download link).
Then click ‘SELL’ you have a choice of fixed price or auction (7 Days), set your starting bid price or fixed sale price in ETH. You can also set a reserve price that has to be reached for the NFT to sell. Once you click submit, you will be asked to approve the action in your connected crypto wallet.
Key Selling Tips – Be mindful of how high you set the starting bid price. With my first collection after I had added several NFTs it set a Floor Price for my collection, so after that I couldn’t set a starting bid lower than the floor price. I could only change them, once the auction had finished.
You can lower your starting bid during the auction by hitting the Lower Price button on the NFT, if the price is higher than the floor price. I am still experimenting with my NFT Collections to find the best listing prices. Note, if you cancel a NFT listing, you will be charged a gas fee.
#9 – Geting Ready to Promote Your NFT’s
Best social media channels to promote your NFTs are TikTok, Instagram, Facebook business page and Twitter. If you already have existing channels with followers, use those! I was totally new to TikTok but it has a large NFT fanbase. Create short videos to promote your NFTs, I found around 20-24 seconds is the perfect video length on TikTok. My first videos got around 550 views. I uploaded a longer video and couldn’t get any video views, so I deleted it and made it shorter, it worked! Plus you can publish your TikTok videos straight to Instagram, and then to Facebook from IG, so no doubling up.
I tend to always publish my Twitter posts separately as they display better. Instagram and Twitter also have a good NFT following. On Twitter, you may want to consider setting up a Twitter profile just for your NFT collection for the long term gain.
Video Tips
A cool app you can use to create short videos with animation, effects and royalty free music is Fotoplay (available in IOS and Android). Word of warning – if you want to use them on YouTube stories, mute the music track and add royalty free ones you know are safe for YouTube. First one I loaded got a Copyright Warning for the music track, so I deleted it instantly. For professional looking videos with more effects, I use Wondershare Filmora. You can create videos of any length and profiles for different platforms.
There is huge interest on YouTube about NFTs, particularly how to videos. I have a large established YouTube Channel, so still experimenting with my audience on the uptake of interest in NFT’s.
NFT Hashtag Tips – Some key hashtags you might want to use in your social media posts are: #nft #NFTs #nftart #nftartwork #nftcollector #nftcollectors #NFTdrop #nftcommunity #nftcollection #crypto #cryptocurrency
#10 – List your NFTdrop on NFT Calendar
Okay newbies NFTdrop means when your NFT Collection is released and live. Another buzz word to learn! Make sure to list your NFTdrop for free on NFT Calendar, there are also paid options if you want to skip the queue. It’s a good idea to have your website set up first because you can link it in your NFT Calendar listing. Plus verifying your listing requires you to add their logo to your website, linked to your listing URL.
You can also add your Discord Server link, which I will happily admit I had no idea what that was. So I asked a girlfriend who uses Discord, got the lay of the land and figured it out. It is a platform where you can create your own NFT Community, share your NFTDrops, and follow established NFT Communities.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with the apps, platforms, crypto wallet or service providers mentioned in this article, nor do I earn any affiliate commissions. Reviews are purely based on my own experiences. Please note, NFT platforms like OpenSea and Rarible may change their NFT processes and charges since the publication of this article, always refer to their help section.
ABOUT ROSE BURNETT
Rose is a Digital Artist of Impressionist Art in Canvas & Acrylic Prints at Elisium Gallery and NFT Creator on OpenSea & Rarible.
Rose Burnett was Executive Contributor to the Brainz Magazine (2021–2022) and CREA Global Awards Recipient 2021 recognizing Top Entrepreneurs and Leaders in innovation, sustainability and their contributions to mental health. Digital Marketing Expert with 19 years’ experience in online businesses, SEO and growth marketing.
